CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW)- A local Charlottesville man has come up with a selfless way to celebrate his upcoming 40th birthday. 

Local runner Jonathan Strongsmith, set to turn 40 on Saturday, will be running 40 miles for each of his year, to benefit the Charlottesville Free Clinic.

“I was like, ‘Can I do 40? Yeah, let’s do it and let’s do it for a good cause,” Strongsmith told 106.1 The Corner. “I’m confident in being able to complete (it).”

Strongsmith, an accomplished endurance runner, has already completed multiple 40-mile runs. He was inspired to take on this challenge by a friend who undertook a similar feat, running 50 miles for their 50th birthday. 

Strongsmith’s plan is to leave from the UVA Rotunda around 3 a.m., aiming to beat the hottest part of the day, running eight five-mile loops every hour on the hour, “cloverleafing” around town. Smith said he welcomes others to join him as he raises awareness and, he hopes, funds for the clinic. Friends and members of the Random Row running club have pledged to join him for portions of the run, he said.

Strongsmith is encouraging people to visit the clinic’s website and make a donation, with the note “40 for 40.”

“Everything is going directly to them,” Smith said.

There will also be an afterparty at Random Row Brewing Company beginning at 1 p.m., where one dollar for every beverage sold will benefit the free clinic.

The Charlottesville Free Clinic was founded in 1992 by Dr. Paul DeMarco and Dr. Mohan Nadkarni to provide medical and dental care and prescription medication to uninsured and under-insured adults in the Charlottesville area. Volunteers donate over 14,000 hours of time each year.

“We provide healthcare to uninsured people that can’t afford to healthcare,” Willa Barnhardt, the clinic’s executive director, told the Corner. “Maybe their health insurance premiums are too high. Maybe they can’t afford health insurance and they don’t have Medicaid. We are this healthcare safety net.”

 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story named the runner as Jonathan Smith.